Kim Magistro was born and raised in New York City, New York. Her love of food came naturally from her Italian and Irish background. Kim says she always had a connection to good food, soshe’s grateful to have grown up with New York’s diverse food culture. But she wasn’t always working with food. Her journey to entrepreneurship started in a corporate office. She was working in advertising and writing magazine columns. Kim had a great job, but she realized her passion for food needed to be fed. So, she began working in a restaurant. It took no time at all for her to become the restaurant’s manager and secure her place in the hos- pitality industry in Manhattan, New York. “I fell in love with the hospitality industry” she said. “I really enjoyed thework. It opened up a lot of doors for me.” Being a restaurant manager allowed Kim to create new connections and rekindle old ones. She was reunited with her friend’s father who came into the restaurant after performing next door at Beacon Theater. He was a famous magician, and she remembers watching him on television when she was a teenager. When he of- fered her a job in the arts, Kim was not going to let the opportunity slip by. She became the magician’s assis - tant part-time while managing the restaurant full-time. A short six months after being trained, the magician got hired to do a children’s show with the symphony or- chestra at Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center. “So, six months after I started working for him, I was performing at Lincoln Center. It was unbelievable.It was a great period in my life” she explained. While performing mag- ic shows in the theater, Kim learned about puppets. In the beginning, she did puppetry part-time. On her path to entrepreneurship, Kim completed a cu- linary degree at The Art Institute of New York City. The restaurant she managed got sold and she struggled to find a full-time position in a new restaurant of similar quality. She knew the industry was changing rapidly, especially with large corporations setting up more and more food franchises. Instead of jumping back into the restaurant setting, she took time to go back to school. Kim took a program to become a super manager, which would later be extremely helpful. “That training was invaluable” she said.
im Magistro can be described as a Jack of all trades. From performing arts to culinary excellence, Kim takes on every new challenge with perseverance. With the ability to create connections wherever she goes, Kim took every opportunity to expand her career paths. But when all paths led to the beautiful mountain range of the Cape Breton Highlands, Kim left the big city life she knew behind to create a new beginning in rural NOVASCOTIA. K
“It made me look beyond where I was, to where I needed to be.”
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • VOL 23 ISSUE 3
VOL 23 ISSUE 3 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
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